Stop Clutter Before It Starts!
Identify, name and notice hoarding patterns
and habits and
Replace them with habits of intention and ease.

Feel better one sock drawer at a time!

It is said a person with an orderly home has an orderly mind and a person with a messy home has a creative mind, but even the creative go nuts and has their limits and needs for structure.

Save yourself time; rejuvenate your self daily by adopting new patterns and habits. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Never give up the ship! Ok, ok, ok

l. Watch your mouth and language.
Bag the use of the words “for now” in your mind. When you say “for now,” it means you are planning to go back to it again later, and put it in its proper place. Do two things instead.
a) Get into habit of putting it in its place straightaway
b) Put it in a basket or bucket with a commitment to deliver the items to their permanent destination within 24 hours.

2. Get hip with the new digs
or Institutionalize proper storage equipment.
a) Keep big wastebaskets in every room and use them at least once every day.
b) Buy filing cabinets, plastic bins for keeping paper records. Divide and organize by categories. If you have one piece of paper that does not fit, then create a new category and folder for it. Avoid stacking miscellaneous. papers in one pile. File financials and taxes in separate tax years and discard those years that are over the obligated time to keep them. Remember the rule: touch the paper once and find a home for it.

3. Oh no! Not another one!
Give yourself permission to pass on an unwanted gift to someone who could use it or enjoy it, including the eager buyer at the Salvation Army Store.

4. “Knock 3 times” before you buy.
Ask yourself these questions.
Do I want it or need it?
Where will I put it? Is there enough space?
How will I use it and how often will I use it?
Can I get this from other sources, i.e., library, friends
collections, bartering? borrowing?
Will possessing this weigh me down or free me up?

5. Seek out "Look-For” Places”
Dedicate consistent easy-to-find spots and be intentional about putting keys, wallets, glasses, schedule book, phone directories or anything you find yourself repeatedly searching for.

6. “What goes up, must come down”
Make a new rule for yourself “When something comes in, something old goes out.” My cousin Vivian lives in California and likes to collect many things, like videos, Elvis Presley everything, TV guides since the l950’s (believe it or not!) and hand painted plates of movie stars that hang on the wall. She tells me each time I call that she reduces clutter by getting rid of at least one item a day, even if it is shredding one piece of paper.
As her coach, I asked her to go bigger. I asked her to throw away or discard l0 things a day, tiny or big. She is considering my request and knows she has the option of accepting it, rejecting it or modifying it in some way. How about 5 things Viv?

7. All Aboard!
Hire a professional to help you. Call them coaches, clutter clearing consultants, or personal organizers are trained and loyal to holding your vision, focus, responsibility and accountability when you are in the muck of it and do not see the forest through the trees. They remind, cheerlead, encourage, and notice your wins, accomplishments, changes in habits and attitudes, tiny, medium and large.

Another distinction is that your coach is “tuned in” to address the energy and underlying habits and patterns and emotions that keep you stuck and those that help you set goals and move forward fast. That old saying “two heads are better than one” resonates with having a coach – someone to stand by you l00% helping you figure out who you are, what you want, and what you need to do to get it.

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Please call me at 802 229-5256 or e-mail me at jo@greenmountainlifecoach.com for a free conditional consultation and experience coaching first hand and find out whether we are a match for each other.